1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mounting adapter and an information processing apparatus, and more particularly, to a mounting adapter to mount a device including a connector to a housing of the apparatus, and to an information processing apparatus employing such a mounting adapter.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Hard disks and optical discs have become indispensable as mass information recording media for information processing apparatuses such as computer equipment and controllers. Such information processing apparatuses are in general equipped with a hard disk drive (hereinafter, “HDD”) including a hard disk and a driving device to cause the hard disk to read and write data, and an optical disc drive to write and read data to and from a compact disc (CD) or a digital versatile disc (DVD).
As a means to hot-plug an HDD unit to a housing of the information processing apparatus, an HDD holder employing guide rails formed by projection molding using resins or die-cast aluminum has been commercialized.
Similarly, as a device for positioning the HDD unit when inserting the HDD unit into the housing, a technique is known in which round holes as main reference holes and oblong secondary slots are provided to an HDD tray and two tapered guide pins are provided to an HDD holder for the tray.
JP-H08-31509-A discloses a connector guide system to attach a connector of a hard disk unit to a connector of the apparatus side. This connector guide system electrically connects a first connector attached to the housing and a second connector attached to a leading edge of the cable by engaging the two connectors, and includes a connector holder to hold the second connector, a bracket slidably provided at a contact surface with the connector holder, a guide pin provided to the connector holder to guide the second connector to the attachment position of the first connector, and a guide groove, arranged to the housing, to which the guide pin is inserted.
Similarly, JP-2001-287132-A discloses a positioning device to enable positioning by inserting a pin to a reference hole, for the purpose of positioning with a high precision in a short period of time with a simple structure. This positioning device includes the reference hole configured such that an edge of the hole at a side where the pin enters is chamfered approximately by 45 degrees and the angle of the leading edge of the pin is tapered approximately by 45 degrees. The reference hole and the pin are relatively position-adjusted until the opening edge of the reference hole abuts the edge line of the projection at a leading edge of the pin.
In addition, Japanese Patent 3518731 discloses a photo processing device including a digital exposure means to perform scanning and exposure of the photoconductive material and a conveyance means, provided in the vicinity of the digital exposure means, to perform conveyance processing relative to the photoconductive material. In this photo processing device, the conveyance means includes at least one of a tapered pin at a side of the conveyance means and a tapered hole at a side of the conveyance means, and the digital exposure means includes a tapered hole at a side of the exposure means and a tapered pin at aside of the exposure means corresponding to the tapered pin at the side of the conveyance means and the tapered hole at the side of conveyance means, respectively. Then, the conveyance means is pressed against the digital exposure means by a pressure applying means, whereby the tapered pin and the tapered hole corresponding to the tapered pin are engaged without any substantial gap therebetween.
However, HDD holders currently commercially available employ many parts and components such as connectors and cables, and therefore are not obtainable at low cost.
For these reasons, a need exists for a mounting adapter obtainable at low cost and an information processing apparatus manufactured at low cost.